Over the past few months, we’ve been sharing a couple different blogs unpacking several SoftwareReview Head-to-Head reports, including Akeneo vs. Salsify, and Akeneo vs. Inriver, each one designed to help teams make sense of what peer-review data actually tells you about competing PIM solutions.

Now we’re taking a look at SoftwareReviews report comparing Akeneo Product Cloud and Contentserv. As with the others, the goal isn’t to declare a universal winner or dismiss one platform in favor of another. Instead, it’s to explain what these H2H reports are, how the data is gathered and calculated, and what the findings reveal when you look beyond surface-level scores.

If you’re evaluating PIM solutions, or simply want to understand how real users experience these platforms in practice, this breakdown will help you read the data with confidence and context.

What Is a SoftwareReviews Head-to-Head Report?

SoftwareReviews H2H reports are independent, data-driven comparisons between two software solutions within the same category. Rather than relying on analyst opinions alone, these reports are built entirely from verified end-user feedback.

In this case, the report compares Akeneo and Contentserv based on user data collected in 2025.

Each vendor is evaluated across four core dimensions that together form a Composite Score:

1. Product Features
2. Vendor Capabilities
3. Emotional Footprint
4. Likeliness to Recommend

The result is a balanced view that reflects not just what the software does, but how it performs in real-world use and how customers feel about the vendor relationship.

All data in SoftwareReviews reports comes from first-party surveys completed by verified users of the software. According to the methodology outlined in the report:

• Reviews are collected via SoftwareReviews’ proprietary survey platform
• Each survey captures 130+ data points per product
• Respondents evaluate their full lifecycle experience, from selection and implementation to day-to-day use and vendor support
• Every response is vetted through a quality assurance process to confirm the reviewer is a real user with hands-on experience

This approach reduces vendor influence and marketing bias, making the findings especially useful for buyers who want peer-driven insights rather than sales claims. 

Overall Performance

At a high level, both platforms perform well and deliver value for PIM users. However, Akeneo Product Cloud achieves a higher overall Composite Score (7.7) compared to Contentserv (7.0), driven by stronger results in recommendation likelihood, customer experience, and product feature satisfaction.

Product Features: Akeneo Leads Overall

When it comes to core PIM functionality, users consistently rate Akeneo higher across the majority of feature areas evaluated in the report. These are not fringe capabilities, but the day-to-day building blocks that determine how efficiently teams can create, manage, enrich, and distribute product information at scale.

Akeneo scores particularly well in areas such as data export and data syndication, which are critical for organizations managing large product catalogs across multiple channels and downstream systems. Strong performance here suggests that users find it easier to move product data where it needs to go without excessive manual work.

Users also rate Akeneo higher for master record management and product categorization and relationships, pointing to confidence in its ability to act as a reliable system of record. These capabilities are essential for maintaining data consistency, managing complex product hierarchies, and supporting variant-rich catalogs, especially in industries like retail, manufacturing, and distribution.

From an operational perspective, Akeneo’s higher scores in advanced search and filtering and product data analytics indicate that users can more easily find, analyze, and act on product information. This directly impacts productivity, helping teams identify gaps, improve data quality, and make informed decisions without relying on external reporting tools.

Finally, strong ratings for role-based access management and digital asset management suggest that Akeneo supports cross-functional collaboration while maintaining governance. Teams can work in parallel without sacrificing control over who can edit, approve, or publish information.

Contentserv, meanwhile, performs well in omnichannel information delivery and workflow and approval management. These strengths may appeal to organizations with highly structured processes or complex approval chains that require fine-grained orchestration across teams and regions.

Vendor Capabilities – A Close Comparison

Vendor capabilities focus less on individual features and more on how effectively a provider supports customers over the long term. This includes everything from implementation and training to product direction and the ability to consistently deliver business value. 

In this area, the H2H report shows a relatively close comparison, with Contentserv just eking out on top (80% versus Akeneo’s 78%).

Contentserv performs particularly well in ease of administration, availability and quality of training, and ease of customization. These scores suggest that users value the platform’s flexibility and the support structures in place to help teams configure and adapt the solution to their specific needs. For organizations with strong internal technical resources or highly tailored workflows, these capabilities may play an important role in day-to-day operations.

Akeneo, however, leads in several vendor capability areas that are closely tied to long-term impact and sustained return on investment.

Users rate Akeneo higher for business value created, indicating that customers see a clearer connection between the platform and measurable outcomes, such as improved productivity, better product data quality, and stronger customer experiences.

Akeneo also outperforms Contentserv in quality of features, product strategy, and rate of improvement. Higher scores here suggest that users have confidence in Akeneo’s roadmap and its ability to evolve alongside changing market demands. In a space where customer expectations, channels, and compliance requirements are constantly shifting, this perception of forward momentum can be critical.

Finally, Akeneo’s advantage in ease of implementation points to faster time-to-value. Successful PIM initiatives often stall during rollout due to complexity or change management challenges. Higher satisfaction in this area suggests that organizations are able to get up and running more smoothly, reducing risk and accelerating benefits.

Taken together, these results highlight an important distinction. While Contentserv demonstrates strengths in configurability and administrative control, Akeneo’s vendor capabilities align more closely with organizations focused on scalability, innovation, and long-term value creation. For teams seeking a PIM partner that can grow with them (and continue delivering impact beyond the initial implementation), these factors can ultimately outweigh marginal differences in administrative or customization scores.

Emotional Footprint: Different Strengths, Different Signals

While feature scores and vendor capabilities show what a platform does, the Emotional Footprint helps explain what it feels like to work with a vendor over time. 

Rather than measuring satisfaction in purely functional terms, the Emotional Footprint captures the sentiment users associate with their relationship with a vendor. It reflects how customers perceive everything from innovation and reliability to fairness, transparency, and how issues are handled when things don’t go as planned.

According to SoftwareReviews, Emotional Footprint data is collected by asking users to rate vendors across five relationship-focused dimensions:

1. Strategy & Innovation
2. Service Experience
3. Product Experience
4. Negotiation & Contract
5. Conflict Resolution
   

Responses are captured on an eight-point scale and converted into net emotional scores, producing a more nuanced picture than traditional satisfaction metrics alone.

In this report, the Emotional Footprint analysis highlights different strengths and priorities between Akeneo and Contentserv, rather than a simple advantage for one vendor across every dimension.

Akeneo scores higher in Strategy & Innovation, indicating that users associate the platform with forward momentum, continuous improvement, and a vendor mindset that actively supports innovation. High scores in this area suggest confidence in Akeneo’s product roadmap and its ability to evolve alongside changing business needs, technologies, and customer expectations.

Contentserv, meanwhile, scores higher in Service Experience and Conflict Resolution, reflecting positive sentiment around responsiveness, fairness, and how customer relationships are managed day to day. These results suggest that users feel supported, respected, and treated professionally, especially when issues arise or decisions need to be negotiated.

Both of these strengths are meaningful. Some organizations may place greater weight on how quickly issues are resolved or how flexible a vendor is in contractual discussions, while others prioritize long-term innovation and strategic alignment.

Final Takeaway: What This Means for PIM Buyers

More than anything, this Head-to-Head report underscores the value of listening to real customers. Rather than relying on feature promises or roadmap statements, SoftwareReviews’ H2H comparisons are grounded in firsthand experiences from practitioners who use these platforms every day, through implementation, daily operations, and ongoing vendor relationships.

For PIM buyers, that perspective is increasingly important. As product data becomes more complex, channels multiply, and AI-driven use cases move from experimentation to expectation, the role of PIM is evolving.

This report shows how different vendors support that evolution in different ways:

• How well platforms handle core PIM capabilities today
• How users perceive long-term innovation and product direction
• How vendor relationships hold up over time, not just at initial purchase

In a market moving as quickly as commerce is today, data-driven, peer-based insights like these help organizations make more confident, future-oriented decisions. For teams evaluating PIM in the context of AI, API-first architectures, and ever-higher customer expectations, reports like this offer something increasingly rare: a clear view of how solutions perform in the real world and how they may support what comes next.

Download the full SoftwareReviews Head-to-Head comparison report of Akeneo vs. Contentserv today to learn more.

A new year tends to lend itself to sharpening priorities. Teams take stock of what’s working, what’s slowing them down, and where the right technology could make a meaningful difference in the months ahead. 

For many organizations, especially in 2026, that reflection brings product information into focus, and with it, the question of whether their current Product Information Management (PIM) platform is truly set up to support growth.

Choosing a PIM solution is rarely about ticking boxes on a feature list alone. Usability, long-term value, vendor partnership, and the ability to adapt as product experiences evolve all play a role. 

Of course, every PIM vendor wants to tout themselves as the best at everything, which can make it difficult to decipher what’s self-promotional and what’s true. That’s where independent, user-driven research can offer a clearer, more grounded perspective.

SoftwareReviews’ Head-to-Head reports take exactly that approach, and today, we’re taking a look at their comparison between Akeneo Product Cloud and Salsify, which is based on verified feedback from real practitioners using these platforms day to day. The report examines how each solution performs across product capabilities, feature depth, customer experience, and the overall quality of the vendor relationship.

Taken together, the findings provide a practical snapshot of how the two platforms stack up in real-world environments, highlighting areas of strength, points of differentiation, and what may matter most for teams looking to build a more resilient, scalable approach to product information in the year ahead.

Let’s dive in!

Overall Performance: Akeneo Leads Across Core Metrics

At a high level, Akeneo Product Cloud received a higher composite score (7.7) than Salsify (7.0), reflecting stronger performance across multiple dimensions, including likelihood to recommend, customer experience (CX) score, and emotional footprint.

Notably, 90% of Akeneo users surveyed indicated a likelihood to recommend, while both Akeneo and Salsify received a 100% intention to renew. Akeneo scored higher for positive sentiment, net emotional footprint (which we’ll dive into more in-depth later), and satisfaction of cost relative to value, which all are metrics that go beyond functional capability to capture trust, respect, and perceived partnership.

While both platforms demonstrate value in the PIM space, the data suggests Akeneo delivers a more consistently positive experience across the customer lifecycle.

Vendor Capabilities: Strength Where It Matters Most

When evaluating a PIM solution, it’s easy to focus almost entirely on features; what the platform can do today. But features alone rarely determine long-term success. How a vendor supports customers, evolves the product, and delivers value over time often has a greater impact on whether a platform continues to meet business needs year after year.

This is where vendor capabilities come into play. In the SoftwareReviews Head-to-Head report, vendor capabilities are used to assess how well a software provider supports customers across the full lifecycle from implementation and adoption to ongoing innovation and support. Rather than measuring what the software does, these capabilities focus on how effectively the vendor enables customers to succeed.

SoftwareReviews evaluates 11 core vendor capabilities, based entirely on feedback from verified end users. These include areas such as: 

• Usability and intuitiveness 
• Business value created 
• Product strategy and rate of improvement 
• Ease of implementation, data integration, administration, and customization 
• Vendor support
• Availability and quality of training 

Together, these categories represent what SoftwareReviews considers “table stakes” for building a strong, sustainable vendor–customer relationship

In this category, Akeneo Product Cloud earned a net score of 78%, compared to 76% for Salsify, indicating a slight but consistent advantage across multiple dimensions of vendor performance.

Akeneo scored particularly well in areas that directly affect day-to-day efficiency and long-term scalability. Users rated the platform highly for usability and intuitiveness, suggesting faster adoption and lower learning curves for internal teams. Akeneo also led in business value created, reflecting the platform’s perceived ability to drive tangible outcomes.

Another area of differentiation was product strategy and rate of improvement, where Akeneo users expressed confidence in the vendor’s roadmap and ongoing investment in innovation. In fast-moving digital commerce environments, this capability is critical; a PIM platform must evolve alongside new channels, customer expectations, and data requirements. Akeneo also scored higher in ease of data integration and administration, helping reduce friction for IT teams responsible for maintaining complex tech ecosystems.

Salsify, meanwhile, received higher scores in availability and quality of training and ease of customization, which may be attractive for organizations with specific enablement or configuration needs. However, the report shows that Akeneo’s strength lies in its broader consistency across core vendor capabilities, which is an important consideration for teams looking to balance flexibility with stability over the long term.

Product Features: Depth, Quality, and Operational Impact

While vendor capabilities focus on the relationship and long-term partnership, product features address a more direct question: How well does the software support the day-to-day work it’s meant to do? In the context of PIM, this includes everything from managing core product records to supporting omnichannel delivery, workflows, analytics, and integrations across the broader tech stack.

According to SoftwareReviews Product Feature Summary, Akeneo achieved an 84% net score, compared to 76% for Salsify.

Akeneo led across all evaluated features, including:

• Master record management
• Omnichannel information delivery
• Advanced search and filtering
• Workflow and approval management
• Product data analytics
• Digital asset management
• Data syndication and integration

These capabilities are increasingly important as organizations move toward API-first architectures and customer-informed product experiences. Strong performance in workflow, analytics, and omnichannel delivery suggests Akeneo is well positioned to support complex, cross-functional product operations.

Emotional Footprint: Measuring the Vendor Relationship

Beyond features and functionality, the quality of the relationship between a customer and a software vendor plays a significant role in long-term satisfaction and success. That’s why SoftwareReviews includes an Emotional Footprint assessment to capture how users feel about their vendor based on real experiences over time.

The Emotional Footprint is built from verified end-user survey responses and evaluates sentiment across five key dimensions: 

• Strategy and innovation 
• Service experience 
• Product experience 
• Negotiation and contract
• Conflict resolution 

Respondents rate a series of emotional descriptors, such as trustworthiness, transparency, reliability, fairness, and innovation, on an eight-point scale. These responses are then converted into net emotional scores, offering a quantitative view of what is often considered qualitative or subjective feedback.

Akeneo scored higher overall in emotional footprint, with particularly strong results in:

Strategy & Innovation

Akeneo received a +82 net score, outperforming Salsify (+70). Users cited continual improvement, innovation support, and meaningful product enhancements as key strengths.

Product Experience

With a +86 net score, Akeneo users rated the platform highly for reliability, productivity enablement, performance, and security. These attributes are critical for organizations managing large, complex product catalogs at scale.

Negotiation & Contract

Akeneo scored higher in transparency, client-first negotiation, and over-delivery, which are factors that can significantly influence long-term partnerships.

Conflict Resolution

Both vendors performed well here, but Akeneo maintained a slight lead (Akeneo +80 vs Salsify +79), particularly in integrity and trustworthiness.

Service Experience

Service experience was one of the closest categories, with both vendors earning strong scores (Akeneo +72 vs Salsify +71), indicating that customers generally feel supported post-purchase.

What This Means for PIM Buyers

Taken together, the findings suggest that while both Akeneo and Salsify are credible, enterprise-grade PIM solutions, Akeneo Product Cloud demonstrates a more consistent strength across product capabilities, customer experience, and vendor relationship metrics. Rather than excelling in only one area, Akeneo shows balanced performance across the dimensions that tend to matter most over the full lifecycle of a PIM investment.

For organizations evaluating PIM as a long-term foundation rather than a point solution, this consistency can be especially meaningful. PIM platforms often sit at the center of increasingly complex ecosystems, supporting multiple teams, channels, regions, and integrations. As a result, success depends not only on what the platform can do today, but also on how well it scales, evolves, and is adopted across the business.

As AI continues to reshape and break everything we thought we knew about the commerce landscape, product information has taken on a far more visible and strategic role. AI-driven search, recommendations, and conversational experiences are only as effective as the data that powers them, making product data quality, completeness, and structure essential. Because of this, PIM platforms have moved from behind-the-scenes systems to foundational infrastructure for modern commerce.

This SoftwareReviews head-to-head comparison highlights how different PIM solutions are positioned to support this shift. By evaluating product features, vendor capabilities, and emotional sentiment through verified user feedback, the report offers insight into how platforms perform once AI-driven demands meet real-world operations. 

For organizations planning for the future of AI-enabled commerce, independent research like this provides valuable context. As product experiences become increasingly dynamic and data-driven, choosing a PIM platform that can evolve alongside new technologies (and support teams throughout that evolution) will be critical to sustaining growth and delivering meaningful customer experiences.

Download the full Head-to-Head Comparison Report here.

Winter has a way of exposing friction.

Processes slow down. Hand-offs get tested. And any gap between strategy and execution becomes impossible to ignore. In commerce today, that gap is growing faster than ever; not because teams are falling behind, but because AI is moving faster than humans ever could.

As agentic AI reshapes how products are discovered, evaluated, and soon purchased, product data can no longer wait in back-office systems for manual activation.

With Akeneo’s Winter Release, we’re introducing new ways to activate trusted product data through AI, extensibility, and frontline-ready experiences, connecting enrichment, governance, and execution like never before. The result? Simpler workflows, safer AI adoption, and teams that can finally act on shared product truths without battling disconnected systems.

We’re turning trusted product data into a live, executable force that powers sales conversations, AI agents, partner ecosystems, and emerging commerce experiences with the same governed product truth. This is what it looks like when product data drives real conversations, real decisions, and real outcomes.

Let’s take a look at the four main aspects of Akeneo’s Winter Release.

1. Digital Showroom

Sales conversations don’t happen in spreadsheets. And in an AI-driven economy, they don’t wait for exports, syncs, or static catalogs.

Digital Showroom gives sales teams a practical, polished way to work with trusted product information in near real time, in an easy-to-use ecommerce-like experience.

Think of it as your PIM, dressed for a high-stakes sales meeting.

Digital Showroom transforms enriched product data into a curated, visual sales asset built specifically for selling and collaboration. By ensuring every interaction is backed by consistent, up-to-date information, sales teams can build stronger buyer relationships and reduce the time from discovery to purchase.

Our goal with Digital Showroom is to keep sales cycles moving, letting sales people quickly identify the right products to pitch at the right time to the right people and providing them with the information they need to answer questions and ultimately build buyer confidence.

Akeneo’s Digital Showroom provides:

• Curated product views from a single source of truth
• Quick sharing with sales teams
• A controlled experience without sacrificing governance

Your product data is no longer locked in the back office. With Digital Showroom, it’s ready for the conversations that close deals and build trust.

2. Stripe Agentic Commerce Suite Partnership

AI-driven commerce needs structured, trusted product data. Now, it has it.

With our new partnership with Stripe, we’re making it easier for businesses to join the agentic ecosystem. Introducing Agentic Commerce Suite: a new platform that makes products discoverable by AI agents, simplifies checkout, and allows businesses to accept agentic payments via a single integration.

This partnership positions Akeneo at the forefront of LLM-driven shopping. Agentic Commerce Suite shares near real‑time product, price, and availability information with AI agents with minimal changes to existing systems; connect the product catalog to Stripe via Akeneo, choose which available AI agents to enable in the Stripe Dashboard, and let Stripe syndicate product information and automatically sync catalog updates to ensure the latest data are available. 

Akeneo’s partnership with Stripe enables:

• Make products discoverable by AI agents: Connect your product catalog to your Stripe account and easily enable AI agents directly from the Stripe Dashboard. 
• Simplify checkout while retaining control of the customer experience: Automate checkout—including shipping, taxes, and inventory—while staying the merchant of record and keeping full control of customer relationships, refunds, and disputes.
• Accept agentic payments and and protect against new fraud patterns: Use new payment primitives for agentic commerce and Stripe Radar risk signals to identify and block fraudulent transactions.

As commerce evolves, Akeneo expands from managing product information to powering the AI-enabled storefronts and selling experiences of the future.

3. MCP Server

AI is only as good as the data (and the guardrails) behind it.

With an expanded Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, Akeneo brings controlled, contextual AI directly into the product data stack with the accuracy and governance enterprises require.

This is the missing bridge between product data and AI agents.

Akeneo’s MCP Server allows customers to connect their preferred AI models directly to Akeneo, providing structure, context, and guardrails so AI can work on product data without risking quality or governance. Product models, enrichment rules, and data relationships are preserved, ensuring AI responses are grounded in product truth, not hallucinations or assumptions.

With Akeneo’s MCP Server, you’ll have:

• Governed access to trusted product data for AI agents
• Context-aware responses grounded in the product data model
• Enterprise-grade control over how AI interacts with product truth

This is how AI becomes useful, without becoming reckless.

4. Custom Component

No two teams work the same way. Your product platform shouldn’t force them to.

Custom Component introduces a new extension type that allows companies to shape Akeneo’s UI around real workflows, real roles, and real tasks, without breaking governance.

Built on Akeneo’s Extension Framework, Custom Component lets teams visualize and interact with product data in flexible, human-centered ways. Internal and external data can be brought together into personalized interfaces, reducing tool-hopping and friction across product, sales, and operations teams.

This is where flexible visualization meets controlled extensibility, providing a solution that is AI-aware, but still human-first.

Custom Component enables:

• Tailored UI experiences without sacrificing governance
• Fewer tool switches for product, sales, and operations teams
• A foundation for role-specific, AI-aware workflows

Custom Component deepens Akeneo’s role as the hub for connected product experiences, designed around how people actually work and not how systems think they should.

From Product Data to Product Action

The winter season is never the easiest. Conditions are tougher, timelines are tighter, and there’s no room for guesswork.

With Digital Showroom, a native MCP Server, Custom Components, and a brand new Stripe partnership, Akeneo eliminates the lag between product strategy and market execution, empowering teams to act together on shared product truth, even as AI accelerates everything around them.

These capabilities strengthen value across the deal cycle, deepen partner engagement, and open new opportunities for growth within existing accounts. More importantly, they give teams the confidence to act together on shared product truths, without friction or fragmentation.

Most platforms help you store product data. Some experiment with AI. Akeneo is building the execution layer for AI-driven commerce, where enrichment, governance, and activation operate as one, so momentum never stalls when it matters most.

Welcome to the AI-powered Field. Built for winter conditions. Designed for the agentic commerce to come.

To learn more about how any of the features in Winter Release can help you turn product data into a strategic operational asset, reach out to an Akeneo expert today, or jump right in with a free trial.

Content is moving faster than ever. 

Brands are expected to publish, update, and localize information with a level of speed and precision that would have seemed impossible a decade ago. Customers expect this level of quality whether they’re browsing on mobile, comparing products online, or interacting with a brand halfway across the world.

Operationally, teams must oversee a complex and expanding set of pages, assets, and continuous updates, all while navigating tight timelines and rising expectations. As content operations become increasingly central to business success, organizations are looking for smarter, more flexible systems that help them stay ready for whatever the next digital shift brings.

What Is a Content Management System (CMS)?

Enter the Content Management System (CMS), a platform designed to make it easier for teams to build and maintain digital experiences without relying on constant developer support.

At its core, a CMS provides the tools needed to create content, organize it, collaborate across teams, and publish it efficiently. While different platforms vary in features and complexity, most modern CMS solutions share several foundational components that make content operations faster and more scalable.

From intuitive editing interfaces to publishing workflows, components like these work together to ensure that organizations can deliver accurate content that is both consistent and engaging across every channel.

Types of Content Management Systems

1. Traditional (Monolithic) CMS

A traditional CMS manages both the front end (what users see) and the back end (where content is created) in one unified system. Platforms like WordPress or Drupal store content, manage templates, and deliver the final webpage all in the same environment.

2. Headless CMS

A headless CMS decouples content creation from content delivery. It stores and manages content in the back end but delivers it through APIs, allowing developers to build custom front ends for websites, apps, and more. This gives brands greater flexibility and omnichannel capabilities.

3. Hybrid CMS

As the name suggests, a decoupled CMS sits between traditional and headless models. It still separates the back end from the front end, but comes with a ready-made front-end delivery layer. This lets teams create content easily while giving developers more freedom to customize how and where that content is displayed.

4. SaaS CMS

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) CMS platforms are cloud-hosted and require no installation or infrastructure management. They offer automatic updates, built-in security, and scalable hosting, making them a strong choice for teams that want flexibility without the burden of ongoing maintenance.

5. Open-Source CMS

Open-source CMS platforms offer full access to the source code, allowing businesses to customize the system extensively. They’re highly flexible and supported by active developer communities, but they require more technical expertise for setup, security, and maintenance.

6. Proprietary CMS

Proprietary CMS solutions are owned and maintained by a company that licenses the software. They often include dedicated support and enterprise features, making them suitable for organizations that prefer a fully managed environment.

CMS vs. DAM vs. PIM

A CMS, DAM, and PIM each serve a different yet complementary purpose within a company’s content and product experience ecosystem. A CMS is responsible for creating and publishing web-based content such as pages and landing experiences. It’s the engine that structures your website and delivers content to your audience.

A DAM (Digital Asset Management) system focuses on storing, organizing, and distributing rich media assets, including images, videos, documents, and design files. If the CMS is the engine, the DAM is the highly organized vault that holds all the visual assets that those digital experiences depend on!

A PIM (Product Information Management) platform, like Akeneo PIM, manages all the data and attributes related to your products; descriptions, specifications, sizing, technical data, translations, and channel-specific requirements. While the CMS publishes the experience and the DAM powers the visuals, the PIM ensures the product information behind those experiences is complete and accurate for every market and channel.

Together, these three systems work hand in hand to streamline workflows, improve consistency, and deliver richer, higher-quality experiences across every digital touchpoint.

How Different Teams Use a CMS

Now that we understand what a CMS is, the next question is: how do different teams actually use it in their day-to-day work? Each group relies on the CMS in its own way to keep information accurate:

Marketers:

A CMS empowers marketing teams by giving them full control over web pages, campaign content, and brand messaging. They can quickly build landing pages, update promotional materials, and publish localized content without waiting on developers. A strong example comes from John Lewis & Partners, which modernized its legacy CMS by migrating to Amplience, giving marketing teams the ability to update content in real time and react faster to promotions and seasonal changes. This reduced bottlenecks and empowered teams to deliver more agile and consistent brand experiences.

eCommerce Managers:

For eCommerce teams, a CMS simplifies the ongoing management of product pages, category structures, and conversion-driving content. They can update promotions and optimize page layouts to support merchandising strategies and shopper behavior. This agility helps improve discoverability, maintain accurate information across storefronts, and create a frictionless browsing and buying experience.

Content & Digital Teams:

Content strategists and digital experience teams rely on the CMS to structure information, maintain site architecture, and ensure that the right content appears at the right time. They use built-in workflows, version control, and approval processes to maintain quality and governance, which allows them to scale content creation without compromising clarity or editorial standards!

IT Teams:

IT departments value the CMS for its integration capabilities and security controls. A modern CMS reduces manual content handling, supports API-driven workflows, and connects seamlessly with systems like PIM, DAM, and eCommerce platforms. This simplifies the digital stack and ensures the organization can efficiently maintain and expand its digital ecosystem.

The Benefits and Challenges of Using a CMS

Benefits of a CMS

• Enables teams to publish and update content quickly without heavy developer involvement
• Improves collaboration through shared workflows, approvals, and version control
• Supports consistent branding and messaging across channels and markets
• Streamlines content creation with reusable templates and structured components
• Enhances operational efficiency with centralized content management
• Helps deliver accurate and localized content to global audiences
• Reduces time-to-market for campaigns, product launches, and digital experiences
• Improves the customer experience with more cohesive, up-to-date information

Challenges and Limitations of a CMS

• Traditional or monolithic systems may be harder to scale or adapt to new channels
• Integration with other tools (e.g., PIM, DAM, eCommerce) can be complex because of compatibility issues
• Plugin or extension dependency can create maintenance and security risks
• Content sprawl can occur as libraries grow, making governance more difficult
• Performance can degrade without proper optimization or infrastructure support
• Keeping security, compliance, and accessibility standards up to date requires ongoing effort
  

Choosing the Right CMS

Selecting the right CMS starts with understanding your organization’s content needs, technical capabilities, and long-term digital strategy. 

Ease of use is often the first consideration. Teams need a platform that enables them to create and update content without needing deep IT expertise. Flexibility also matters, especially for brands operating across multiple regions or channels. 

A modern CMS should support scalable content models, reusable components, and intuitive workflows that help teams deliver consistent content while streamlining operations. For organizations expanding into new markets or channels, strong localization features and the ability to handle omnichannel content delivery become essential.

Beyond usability, technical factors play a critical role. The right CMS should integrate seamlessly with your existing technology stack and marketing tools. Security, performance, and hosting options (whether cloud, SaaS, or self-managed) also influence how well the CMS can support both current and future requirements. 

Finally, consider whether a traditional, headless, or hybrid CMS model aligns best with your digital roadmap. A thoughtful evaluation of these criteria ensures you choose a CMS that not only meets your immediate needs but also grows with your business as the digital landscape evolves.

Building Better Digital Experiences With the Right CMS

A CMS has become an essential part of how modern businesses build and manage their digital experiences. From supporting content teams and marketers to empowering IT and eCommerce operations, the right system brings structure and consistency to every stage of content creation and delivery. 

As brands expand across channels and markets, choosing a CMS that aligns with both current needs and long-term digital ambitions becomes increasingly important. By balancing usability, flexibility, and integration capabilities, businesses can create a foundation that supports seamless customer journeys and enables teams to work more confidently and collaboratively. Ultimately, the right CMS manages content and elevates the entire digital experience.

It wouldn’t be PXmas without a grand finale! 

For Day 12 of our 12 Days of PXmas, we’re spotlighting the real-world impact of great product experiences. This roundup brings together 12 Akeneo customer stories that show how brands are turning complex product data into faster launches, smarter workflows, and more compelling customer experiences across every channel. 

So grab a cup of cocoa, cozy up, and unwrap the ingenuity and impact behind twelve transformations from 2025.

12 Stories of PX Success

1. Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co. modernized and centralized its product information management by implementing Akeneo Product Cloud, enabling the brand to: 

• Clean and structure complex product data 
• Eliminate errors and duplications 
• Support multiple market catalogs with greater precision and consistency

With a stronger governance framework and integrations across systems like Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Algolia search, and Adobe DAM, Tiffany significantly improved data accuracy and accelerated its global expansion, launching and supporting seven new markets in six months, with notable reductions in time-to-market and enhanced localized product experiences that reinforced the brand’s high standards for global customers. 

Learn more about Tiffany & Co.

2. Fossil

Fossil, the global lifestyle accessories company known for watches, jewelry, and leather goods, transformed its product information management by adopting Akeneo to replace fragmented spreadsheets and manual processes, centralizing all customer-facing product data and automating content creation with translation tools and rules features. 

This shift brought: significant improvements in data accuracy (up to an 85% increase), faster access and updates across channels, and more efficient seasonal product launches, enabling Fossil to scale its global operations and enhance the online customer experience while strengthening its competitive advantage. 

Learn more about Fossil

3. Sealed Air

Sealed Air, a global leader in protective and food-safety packaging best known for Bubble Wrap®, moved away from disparate systems and manual spreadsheets to a centralized, structured source of truth that supports scalable growth and preserves decades of product expertise with Akeneo. 

This digital transformation not only streamlined internal workflows and improved data access and accuracy, but also strengthened partner enablement by providing detailed and consistent product content, automated data sharing, and enhanced import/export capabilities; all of which were efforts that helped Sealed Air earn Akeneo’s 2025 Expansion Award for driving growth across new and existing channels. 

Learn more about Sealed Air

4. JC Perrault

JC Perreault, a family-owned Canadian retailer of high-end furniture and appliances, modernized its digital operations by implementing Akeneo Product Cloud to centralize and standardize product information that had previously lived in outdated, manual systems. 

By creating a single source of truth for product data and assets, leveraging AI for translation and enrichment, and automating workflows with integrations, the company: 

• Dramatically improved data quality 
• Accelerated product launches from two weeks to just 24 hours 
• Expanded its online catalog fourfold while ensuring consistent, enriched product experiences across both its JC Perreault and Espace 67 brands

Learn more about JC Perrault 

5. tectake

Tectake, a European home and garden retailer selling approximately 2,000 products across 80 marketplaces in 16 countries, consolidated its fragmented product data tools into Akeneo PIM to create a centralized source of truth, and implemented Akeneo Activation to streamline marketplace syndication. 

By replacing manual workflows and disparate systems with a unified platform, tectake drastically reduced marketplace integration time from months to just 15 days, automated attribute mapping with reusable templates, and gained real-time alerts that help prevent product delistings and ensure consistency across channels. This transformation not only accelerated time-to-market and improved marketplace performance but also empowered the team to proactively manage product experiences at scale, supporting strategic growth across diverse global channels.

 Learn more about tectake

6. Courir

Courir, a fashion-driven sneaker retailer and winner of the 2025 Akeneo Accelerator Award, transformed its product information workflows by adopting Akeneo and moving from manual, time-intensive processes to a centralized, AI-powered system that dramatically increased operational efficiency and digital agility. 

By consolidating product data in a single source of truth and integrating tools like the BEE App and a custom troubleshooting dashboard, Courir: 

• Cut product description and translation time by over 90% 
• Reduced manual entry by 97% 
• Sped up video uploads by 66% 
• Achieved a 96% product publication rate, resulting in faster time-to-market, higher-quality enriched product experiences, and scalable omnichannel growth online and in stores. 

Learn more about Courir 

7. Steelcase

Steelcase, a global leader in office furniture and workspace solutions, modernized its cumbersome, manual product data processes by adopting Akeneo PIM and Akeneo Supplier Data Manager (SDM), creating a centralized source of truth that empowered business users to enrich and manage data independently of IT and significantly reduced manual work across multi-regional product records and supplier onboarding. 

With automated linking of assets like images and finishes, streamlined supplier data ingestion, and improved governance, Steelcase cut annual manual effort for supplier data by over 60% and accelerated product release workflows by more than half, driving greater operational efficiency and faster time-to-market. 

Learn more about Steelcase 

8. Leatherman Tools

Leatherman, the iconic multi-tool maker, replaced its outdated legacy product information system with Akeneo Product Cloud to unify product data across teams, improve accuracy, and accelerate time-to-market, while also introducing PX Insights to bring the voice of the customer directly into the product record. 

By centralizing workflows and surfacing real-time review data and AI-generated recommendations inside Akeneo, the team uncovered new use cases, such as IT professionals using rescue scissors as cable cutters, leading to optimized content, expanded SEO and metadata strategies, and fresh go-to-market opportunities. This customer-informed approach helped Leatherman transform data into strategic insights, elevate product experiences, and open new market possibilities based on how customers actually use their products. 

Learn more about Leatherman Tools 

9. Giant Tiger

Giant Tiger, a Canadian value-focused retailer with over 260 stores, implemented Akeneo to centralize previously siloed product information and assets to improve collaboration and operational efficiency across teams. 

By replacing disconnected spreadsheets and inconsistent asset storage with a single source of truth and structured asset tagging, Giant Tiger significantly increased product data completeness from about 60% to nearly 100% online, accelerated time-to-market through faster asset search and management, and empowered its teams to focus on strategic work instead of manual tasks; efforts that earned the company Akeneo’s 2025 Leadership Award for excellence in product information and asset management. 

Learn more about Giant Tiger 

10. Tikamoon

Tikamoon, a European direct-to-consumer furniture brand known for sustainable, high-quality solid wood products, overcame data inconsistency and system limitations by implementing Akeneo Product Cloud as a centralized source of truth, replacing an outdated CMS that restricted attributes and visual storytelling. 

By integrating Akeneo with key composable technologies like Cloudinary (DAM) and Sylius (eCommerce), and leveraging AI to automate content optimization and multilingual workflows, Tikamoon greatly expanded its product galleries, improved international syndication, and delivered richer, consistent product experiences across channels and markets, all while enabling a 20% larger catalog to be managed without growing the team. 

Learn more about Tikamoon

11. ABB

ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation, revolutionized its product catalog production by implementing Akeneo alongside InBetween’s smart automation software to centralize and structure product data and fully automate the creation of its massive 600-page 501 Catalog. 

What once took 6–8 months and extensive manual effort across teams now completes in just 18 hours, with the ability to update catalogs daily, add new products instantly, and generate localized, multilingual print and web versions with consistent, accurate information. This dramatically increased efficiency, freed up resources for strategic work, improved time-to-market, and ensured high data reliability and consistency across all formats, enabling ABB to deliver richer customer experiences and targeted marketing materials faster than ever. 

Learn more about ABB

12. Henderson Food Service

Henderson Foodservice, a long-established distributor serving thousands of hospitality and foodservice customers across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, strengthened its product data operations by partnering with Akeneo and deploying Supplier Data Manager (SDM) to centralize and automate supplier collaboration on product information. 

Facing complexity from more than 360 suppliers and strict UK/EU regulatory requirements for allergens, ingredients, and labeling, the company moved from manual, inconsistent processes to a connected workflow where suppliers upload structured data directly into SDM and Akeneo’s validation rules ensure compliance and completeness before it flows into the PIM, dramatically reducing processing time per product (saving an estimated 10 minutes per item), improving data accuracy and compliance, and transforming supplier relationships into a competitive advantage with faster time-to-market and greater transparency across every SKU. 

Learn more about Henderson Food Service

That’s a Wrap on the 12 Days of PXmas

As we close out our 12 Days of PXmas, we hope these 12 customer stories have filled you with as much inspiration as holiday cheer! Whether you’re dreaming of cleaner catalogs, faster launches, better marketplace performance, or simply happier customers, there’s a lesson here for every product experience journey. 

Here’s to taking these stories into the new year. May your data be merry, your workflows be bright, and your PX goals reach dazzling new heights. Cheers to continuous innovation and a very PXmas to all!

🎶 On the 11th day of PXmas, Akeneo shared with thee…
Eleven bylines worth bookmarking!

As we near the end of our 12 Days of PXmas, it felt like the perfect moment to look back on some of the ideas that made this year such a meaningful one for product experiences. Throughout 2025, Akeneo leaders shared their perspectives across top industry publications, tackling everything from AI and trust to sustainability, returns, and the future of retail. 

For Day 11 of PXmas, we’re wrapping them all up into one easy-to-explore roundup. So grab a mug of something warm, get comfortable, and let’s dive in. 

1. How to Earn Consumer Trust in an AI-Driven World

In this Martech Edge byline, Akeneo CEO Romain Fouache examines rising consumer skepticism toward artificial intelligence and explains how brands can close the trust gap as AI becomes more deeply embedded in customer experiences. While many shoppers recognize the value of AI-powered features, Fouache notes that concerns around data usage and transparency continue to hold consumers back. 

He argues that trust is not inherent to AI itself but is earned through responsible implementation, emphasizing data accuracy and transparency as the foundation of trustworthy AI experiences. By grounding AI in high-quality product data and clearly communicating how AI is used, brands can build confidence, reduce hesitation, and foster stronger, more reliable relationships with their customers.

Read the full article on Martech Edge

2. Reducing Returns and Enhancing Customer Experience

Virginie Blot, Principal Product Marketer at Akeneo, explains how high-quality product data is essential to reducing returns while improving customer experience and sustainability outcomes in this Sourcing Journal byline. She notes that many returns stem from issues such as inaccurate sizing, misleading descriptions, or insufficient product details, making returns both a customer experience and environmental challenge rather than just an operational one. 

By investing in enriched, accurate product information and leveraging data across the product lifecycle, retailers can help shoppers make more confident purchasing decisions, reduce return-related costs, improve reverse logistics, and ultimately turn returns from a persistent pain point into a driver of customer trust, loyalty, and long-term value.

Read the full article on Sourcing Journal

3. The EU’s Digital Product Passport Will Ruin Your Ignorance 

Benoit Jacquemont, co-founder and CTO at Akeneo, highlights the imminent arrival of Digital Product Passports (DPPs) as a catalyst for sustainability and transparency in product ecosystems in this byline with The CTO Club. With European Union mandates making DPP compliance compulsory for many industries in 2026, Jacquemont frames this regulatory shift not as a burden but as a strategic opportunity for technology leaders (especially CTOs) to build more transparent, resilient, and sustainable product information architectures that meet rising consumer and regulatory demands.

Jacquemont urges CTOs to treat DPPs as a chance to modernize technology stacks, break down internal data silos, and develop cross-functional collaboration between product, engineering, and business teams. He provides strategic steps tech leaders can take to ensure their organizations are prepared for this shift and can leverage DPPs to strengthen brand trust, reduce operational waste, and support long-term sustainability goals. 

Read the full article on The CTO Club

4. The Returns Crisis: How to Balance Sustainability and Convenience 

In this Sustainable Brands byline, the Akeneo team examines the growing returns crisis as retailers navigate the tension between consumers’ desire for sustainability and their expectation of fast, convenient returns. While shoppers increasingly value environmentally responsible practices, they are unwilling to sacrifice ease and flexibility, creating a challenge for brands seeking to reduce waste without harming the customer experience. 

The article outlines practical strategies to address this balance, including delivering accurate, in-depth product information, enabling hybrid return options to lower emissions, and localizing content to minimize confusion and unnecessary returns. By improving product experiences alongside sustainability efforts, retailers can reduce return rates while meeting customer expectations and turning returns into a competitive advantage.

Read the full article on Sustainable Brands

5. The Trade War that Restructures What Sells and Why 

In a Retail TouchPoints article, Akeneo CEO Romain Fouache explores how global trade tensions and shifting tariff policies are reshaping retail economics and consumer behavior, pushing shoppers to reassess what they buy and why. As rising prices and economic uncertainty weaken consumer confidence, Fouache argues that buyers are moving beyond a sole focus on low cost toward greater emphasis on value, transparency, and product purpose. He suggests this “trade war era” may accelerate more conscious consumerism, favoring brands that prioritize quality, ethical practices, and rich product information. 

By investing in clear storytelling, transparent sourcing, and stronger product experiences, retailers can better differentiate themselves and build long-term trust and loyalty in an increasingly scrutinized purchasing environment.

Read the full article on Retail TouchPoints

6. How Better Product Experiences Can Reduce Returns, Enhance Brand Loyalty, and Protect the Planet 

The team here at Akeneo explores the post–peak-season surge in returns and the negative impact it has on both brands and the environment, noting that most returns stem from inadequate or inaccurate pre-purchase product information in this byline featured in MyTotalRetail. The article argues that reducing returns isn’t about adding friction to the process but about empowering shoppers upfront with comprehensive, accurate product content that sets clear expectations. 

By enhancing product experiences, retailers can reduce costly returns, protect customer loyalty and brand reputation, and address sustainability concerns tied to excess emissions and waste, creating a win-win outcome of fewer returns, stronger trust, and a smaller environmental footprint.

Read the full article on MyTotalRetail

7. Retail’s AI Revolution Hinges On Consumer Trust And Data Quality 

In this Forbes article, Akeneo examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping the retail industry while emphasizing that technology alone is not enough to ensure success. The piece argues that AI’s true impact depends on consumer trust and the quality, accuracy, and transparency of the data that powers AI systems, particularly as AI becomes embedded in product recommendations, personalization, and search experiences. 

Without strong data foundations and clear communication about how customer information is used, retailers risk eroding trust and diminishing the return on their AI investments. Ultimately, the article highlights a broader industry shift toward pairing advanced AI innovation with responsible data governance and transparent customer practices to drive meaningful, sustainable engagement.

Read the full article on Forbes

8. How Retailers Can Make the Returns Process More Sustainable

Akeneo CEO Romain Fouache examines the growing sustainability challenge created by high retail return rates, highlighting consumer survey data that shows many returns are driven by poor or misleading product information. He explains that inaccurate sizing, unclear descriptions, and missing reviews often lead shoppers to return products, making improved product data one of the most effective levers for reducing unnecessary returns. 

Fouache also notes that nearly half of consumers factor the environmental and ethical impact of return processes into their purchasing decisions, elevating sustainability as a key driver of trust and loyalty. Framing returns as an environmental imperative rather than just an operational issue, he argues that providing accurate, enriched product experiences upfront can reduce waste, lower emissions, and strengthen both brand performance and long-term sustainability outcomes.

Read the full article on Supply Chain Digital

9. AI in Retail Ecommerce, with Benoit Jacquemont, CTO and co-founder of Akeneo 

In this CTO Magazine interview, Benoit Jacquemont discusses how artificial intelligence is reshaping the retail and eCommerce landscape. Jacquemont emphasizes that while AI offers powerful benefits like smarter search, automated content enrichment, and richer customer experiences, its success depends on high-quality, enriched product data that fuels reliable, trustworthy AI outputs.

Jacquemont also explores the risks of rushing into AI without a thoughtful strategy, particularly the potential erosion of consumer trust if AI systems deliver inaccurate or opaque results. By combining responsible AI adoption with clear data governance frameworks, retailers can unlock AI’s full potential while keeping customer trust and long-term engagement at the forefront. 

Read the full article on CTO Magazine

10. AI-Driven Product Experiences: Personalization, Trust & Data Accuracy

In this conversation, Akeneo CEO Romain Fouache explains how AI-driven product experiences are transforming eCommerce and retail, highlighting the need to balance advanced personalization with consumer trust. He emphasizes that high-quality, complete product data is essential for AI to deliver relevant results, reduce friction, and build purchase confidence across the customer journey. 

Fouache also outlines how Akeneo evaluates product information maturity to support AI, connects AI initiatives to measurable outcomes like return rates and customer satisfaction, and advocates for a transparency-first approach that includes ethical AI use, clear communication, user consent, and data privacy. Ultimately, he underscores that data accuracy and trust are foundational to unlocking AI’s full potential in product experiences.

Read the full article on Martech Edge

11. How Retailers Can Build Trust in the Age of AI and Deal-Day Fatigue 

The team here at Akeneo explores how retailers can navigate deal-day fatigue and rising expectations for AI-enabled experiences during peak promotional periods in this SalesTechStar byline. CEO Romain Fouache explains that while discount events drive engagement, they also lead to increased dissatisfaction and returns when product information is unclear or misleading, ultimately eroding consumer trust. 

The article argues that long-term loyalty cannot be built on promotions alone and emphasizes the importance of accurate, transparent product information—especially as AI becomes more central to eCommerce. By pairing responsible AI use with high-quality product data, retailers can meet heightened shopper scrutiny, reduce returns, and turn reliable product experiences into lasting customer trust and loyalty.

Read the full article on Sales TechStar

A Season of Stronger Product Experiences

And just like that, we’re almost at the end of our PXmas countdown.

These 11 bylines may come from different publications, but they all point to the same truth: better product experiences are built on trust, transparency, and great product information. Whether you’re navigating AI adoption, reducing returns, or meeting rising sustainability expectations, the message is clear: product experiences matter more than ever. Thanks for celebrating Day 11 of PXmas with us, and stay tuned as we unwrap the final day of our PXmas journey.

As 2025 draws to a close, businesses everywhere are taking a step back to reflect on a year defined by rapid change, rising customer expectations, and unprecedented technological acceleration. It’s been a year of learning (sometimes the hard way) as organizations navigated new market realities, evolving consumer behavior, and the expanding role of AI in shaping product experiences.

But before we turn the page to a new year, it’s worth pausing to look at what 2025 has taught us: the trends that stuck, the strategies that delivered, and the insights that will shape smarter decisions in the months ahead. Here are the top takeaways every business should carry forward.

The Top 7 Takeaways From 2025

1. AI -Powered Personalization is Here to Stay

Artificial Intelligence couldn’t be contained in 2025. AI went from a shiny new trend to a daily driver across the entire commerce journey. Shoppers now rely on voice assistants to help them buy products, use visual search to discover similar styles they like, and turn to AR and VR to see how items look in their space or on themselves. This evolution has forced brands to rethink every step of the product experience, moving beyond one-size-fits-all journeys to create fluid, intelligent interactions that adapt in real time to user behavior.

A key part of that evolution is personalization, and I’m not talking about “Hello, [First Name]” level personalization! Today’s customers expect product discovery, recommendations, and content that reflect their preferences and context across every touchpoint. More than 50% of consumers say that personalized experiences make them more loyal to a brand. That’s why AI-driven tools that support tailored content and dynamic recommendations have become essential for brands looking to deliver meaningful, individualized shopping experiences.

To make this level of personalization work, brands need visibility into how their product content performs, which is where a tool like Akeneo PX Insights helps. The solution gives teams real-time visibility into product content issues affecting performance, from missing attributes and short descriptions to pricing mismatches that hurt ad eligibility. PX Insights closes the feedback loop by revealing visibility gaps, providing actionable suggestions for improvement, and helping teams take action fast. With tools like AI Discovery Optimization and discoverability diagnostics, brands can stay one step ahead, optimizing content before competitors even realize there’s an opportunity!

2. Agentic AI Lays the Seeds For Agentic Commerce

If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that we are swiftly approaching an age of agentic commerce, where AI agents search and shop autonomously for us consumers. In fact, a recent TechRadar report found that about one-third of U.S. consumers would let AI make purchases for them, and nearly a third have already used ChatGPT to assist in buying decisions.

With OpenAI announcing their “Instant Checkout” feature, we are seeing the discovery channel itself become. the point of purchase. This fundamentally changes how product data needs to be enriched and delivered. If an autonomous system is evaluating your catalog and deciding whether your product gets surfaced, your content must be complete, contextual, and machine‑readable. 

With predictions that around 33 % of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, brands must act fast. As these systems become decision‑makers in the buying journey, commerce teams are no longer just designing for people but for intelligent agents too.

3. Traditional Search Is Evolving, But Still Essential

Despite the rise of AI-driven discovery and agentic experiences, traditional search still plays a central role in how people shop. In fact, consumers are still most likely to begin their buying journey with traditional search engines, using them to explore options and compare prices before making a decision. 

However, with the rise of AI-powered search that can offer a more personalized experience, shoppers are starting to expect search to understand intent and surface relevant products fast, no matter where they’re browsing. 

For brands, this evolution means search optimization now goes far beyond SEO headlines or keyword stuffing. What really determines search visibility is product data quality. From clear titles and complete attributes to rich descriptions and consistent taxonomy, search engines and shopping platforms reward content that helps their algorithms serve the right result at the right time. Incomplete, vague, or overly generic product content is a liability in today’s crowded digital shelves. As AI and agentic tools begin to rely on deeper data signals for ranking and selection, brands need to treat product data as search infrastructure. The better the content, the better the discoverability.

4. Consistent Omnichannel Shopping Isn’t Optional

The modern customer journey is anything but linear. Shoppers fluidly move between online and offline touchpoints, such as browsing on their phones and visiting a store to see a product in person. In fact, we found that, despite all of the advancements in digital commerce over the past few years, 30% of consumers still prefer to make actual purchases directly in physical retail stores.

In other words, while discovery and comparison may start on screens, many buying decisions still happen face-to-face, and vice versa. This fragmented journey means brands can’t afford to prioritize one channel over another. 

That’s exactly where Akeneo Activation comes in. As customer journeys stretch across more channels, the pressure to deliver consistent, channel-ready content at speed grows exponentially. Akeneo Activation helps brands automate the delivery of complete product data, ensuring it reaches each destination in the exact format required. Instead of juggling fragmented spreadsheets and portals, teams can streamline workflows and reduce manual effort, freeing up time to focus on strategy rather than formatting. 

More importantly, the platform enables optimized product experiences at scale, allowing teams to tailor content for each channel and boost SEO. Whether customers are shopping in-store or browsing online marketplaces, brands must deliver the same accurate product story everywhere.  In today’s diverse commerce landscape, Akeneo Activation makes scaling product experiences both achievable and effortless.

5. Customers Are Often Willing to Pay a Premium for High-Quality Product Information 

Consumers are researching more thoroughly and making buying decisions based on the quality of information they’re given. And when that information falls short, the consequences are real. In fact, 76% of buyers rank inaccurate product descriptions as a top reason for returning a product, and on the flip side, the majority of consumers are willing to pay 25-30% more for products with clear, comprehensive, and personalized product information. Whether it’s incorrect specs, missing details, or misleading images, poor product information directly impacts the customer experience and your bottom line. 

This is exactly the kind of challenge Akeneo PIM is built to solve. By centralizing product information, Akeneo allows brands to collect, enrich, and govern content in one place, then distribute it across every relevant channel with confidence. Instead of siloed spreadsheets or outdated assets floating between teams, businesses get a single source of truth that scales with them. In a market where trust is earned (and lost) in seconds, Akeneo PIM gives brands the control they need to meet customer expectations and exceed them!

6. User Reviews Strongly Influence Decisions

Consumers are paying close attention to what other people say about your products. Reviews have become one of the most powerful tools for shaping perception, offering a kind of real-world proof that marketing copy simply can’t replicate. For many shoppers, a glowing review is more convincing than any product headline. On the flip side, negative feedback can stop a sale in its tracks — even during high-intent moments like deal days. In fact, 45% of shoppers say they would abandon a purchase if they encounter negative reviews. Reviews act as a proxy for quality and satisfaction. When that is weak or negative,  consumer confidence can vanish in seconds.

The best way to counter hesitation and prevent negative feedback is by pairing strong product information with authentic user reviews. Clear descriptions, accurate specs, and detailed images help set the right expectations, reducing confusion and returns. When this content is reinforced by positive customer feedback, it creates a powerful trust signal that reassures new buyers. Together, high-quality product data and real reviews can boost credibility and create a consistent experience across every touchpoint.

7. Sustainability Is Core to Brand Value

In 2025, what a brand stands for is just as important as what it sells. Shoppers are paying attention to the values behind the products. From sustainability practices and ethical sourcing to transparency in the supply chain and detailed nutritional or allergen information, today’s consumers want to understand the full story. However, these are often the weakest links in product content. Our research shows that information tied to sustainability, compliance, and brand values remains among the least complete areas in product data, creating gaps that directly impact consumer trust and decision-making. When customers can’t easily find this information, they often interpret the absence as a lack of credibility or commitment.

On the flip side, consumers are increasingly willing to reward the brands that clearly communicate their purpose and principles with their trust and their dollars. In fact, 42% of shoppers say they would pay more for products from companies that openly share their values, with many of them willing to spend over 10% (and some, up to 24%!) more. Brands that embrace this are turning purpose into a differentiator, using clear product content to highlight ethical practices and social impact. Those who do it well are strengthening loyalty while boosting margins.

Looking Ahead: Commerce Isn’t Slowing Down

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that commerce is evolving faster than ever. It’s driven by smarter technology, changing customer expectations, and the rising importance of trust and data quality. Brands that have adapted are creating standout experiences across every channel and platform.

The opportunities for 2026 are big, but so are the stakes. Whether it’s embracing agentic AI, streamlining omnichannel delivery, or investing in product experience as a strategic advantage, success in 2026 will be shaped by the brands laying the groundwork today.

AI may be the new engine powering digital commerce, but it’s running on a surprisingly delicate fuel: trust. 

Shoppers love the convenience of AI-powered search and chat-based assistance, but they’re not fully sold on its accuracy. In fact, only 45% of consumers trust that AI can provide reliable, accurate responses. And honestly, who can blame them? Most brands are still trying to get their product names consistent across channels, let alone feed clean data into an AI model.

That’s the real plot twist in today’s AI commerce story: the issue isn’t the AI but the data behind it. Without well-structured, complete product information, AI experiences become unpredictable, inconsistent, or even worse — confidently wrong. This is exactly where Product Information Management (PIM) steps in. Far from being a back-office tool, PIM has quietly become the foundation of AI commerce, ensuring brands deliver AI experiences customers can actually trust.

How PIM Supports AI Commerce

Most commerce stacks were never designed for agentic search or AI-generated recommendations. ERPs and MDMs excel at managing operational or generalized business data, but they aren’t built to handle the depth and contextual richness AI systems need to perform. As AI becomes more embedded in eCommerce platforms and customer experience engines, these legacy systems reveal their limits quickly.

For IT leaders and retailers trying to modernize their stack, this creates a fundamental bottleneck. AI can pull signals from customer behavior and intent, but it can’t compensate for missing dimensions of product data. When your ERP only holds base specs and your eCommerce platform holds manually uploaded descriptions, AI is forced to work with a fragmented picture. 

For retailers, this means product discovery tools struggle, onsite search becomes unreliable, and recommendation engines can’t confidently match buyers with what they’re looking for. The end result is the same on all sides: inconsistent search results and hallucinated outputs that end up destroying customer trust and undermining revenue-driving AI initiatives.

A PIM system like Akeneo PIM solves this foundational problem by serving as the single source of truth for rich, structured product content. Think of PIM as the supply chain for product information: it takes raw, unstructured inputs from suppliers, spreadsheets, and internal tools, and transforms them into organized and validated data ready for every channel. Just as a physical supply chain turns materials into finished goods, a PIM converts raw product records into high-quality, AI-ready assets through enrichment, normalization, and governance.

This structured process is essential for AI commerce. Product information needs to be contextualized and prepared for consumption by advanced systems. AI models require detailed taxonomies, consistent attribute sets, and relationships between variants. They also need product story elements like usage information and lifestyle detail. PIM becomes the operational engine, ensuring this information is both accurate and complete before it enters any AI-powered experience.

An API-First Integration Layer Built for AI-Driven Ecosystems

Modern commerce environments demand a level of connectivity that older systems simply can’t support. AI engines, marketplaces, DAM platforms, OMS tools, and eCommerce systems all need access to real-time product data, and they need it through flexible, API-first connections. A PIM system designed with APIs at its core guarantees that product information flows seamlessly across the entire technology ecosystem without brittle custom integrations or expensive IT workarounds.

With an API-first PIM, businesses can easily plug into emerging AI tools, agentic search platforms, and future interfaces that haven’t yet reached the mainstream! This future-proofing is essential as AI evolves rapidly. To thrive, businesses need flexible systems that can easily integrate new technology without replacing the old. PIM makes that possible.

Don’t Forget About Data Governance

In an AI-first commerce landscape, data governance changes from an operational concern to a strategic necessity. AI systems amplify whatever they’re fed, meaning flawed or non-compliant data damages customer trust and increases regulatory risk. Accurate, reliable product data is required to meet strict standards for completeness, accuracy, and compliance before it reaches any customer-facing system.

These governance capabilities include validation rules, workflow approvals, version control, completeness scoring, and audit trails, each of which acts as a safety net preventing low-quality information from entering the data supply chain. IT leaders and retailers alike can be confident that what enters their AI systems has been vetted by both automated checks and human oversight, dramatically reducing the chance of AI confidently delivering wrong or misleading recommendations. 

For IT teams, this means fewer data-related incidents and a significantly lower risk of AI-driven errors cascading across their tech stack. For retailers, it translates into more trustworthy recommendations and fewer moments where AI surfaces outdated or simply incorrect information to shoppers.

This governance layer also builds transparency, which is becoming a core expectation from buyers. As consumers grow more aware that AI guides their product discovery, they want to know that the information they’re seeing is precise and compliant. PIM enables businesses to provide that assurance and meet upcoming regulations that will scrutinize AI decision-making and product data accuracy even more closely.

Building the Foundation for AI-Ready Commerce

AI is rapidly transforming how customers search and evaluate products, but its success depends entirely on the quality and consistency of the data behind it. Legacy systems weren’t built for this new era, and retailers and IT leaders need a foundation that can support the accuracy AI-driven experiences demand. PIM fills that gap by delivering enriched and governed product information that every AI engine, channel, and customer touchpoint can rely on.

By investing in a PIM-driven data strategy, businesses future-proof their entire commerce ecosystem. With the right product data foundation, retailers can deliver more trustworthy experiences, IT teams can scale innovation confidently, and AI systems can perform at their fullest potential. In a world where product information fuels every interaction, PIM becomes the catalyst that unlocks meaningful AI commerce.

On the fourth day of PXmas, we’re celebrating “helpers”. And no, not the kind working at the North Pole. 

When you hear the word “Akeneo,” your first thought is probably our robust Product Cloud, along with the many products and services that work with them. And why wouldn’t it be? Our solutions are designed to help businesses achieve their goals and exceed their expectations!

But behind every feature and improvement lies something even more essential: the talented individuals who make them possible. As we continue celebrating the 12 Days of PXmas, we’re focusing on the real helpers; the teams and colleagues who shape Akeneo every day. 

Their expertise and dedication fuel everything we create, from helping unlock new opportunities for the business to nurturing the growth of our teams and culture. That’s why we spoke with four colleagues about their journeys, their roles, and what Akeneo means to them. They are:

Alay Shah, Director of Revenue Technology & Operations

Janelle Mims, Manager of Learning & Development

Jesse Creange, VP of Business Development

Sarah Assous, VP of Product Marketing

In Your Own Words: Who Are You?

Alay Shah: I am a Boston-based dad trying to find good New York-style pizza here. It’s not going that well. Aside from that, I am a big gamer who likes to play RTS and RPG games to unwind.

Janelle Mims: I am the Learning & Development Professional. I am someone who values experiences, and I think Learning & Development should be an experience. I’m quirky and a heartled trainer and builder! I’m not your typical corporate leader, though I used to think I had to be. I like chaos, but the good kind in small doses! I like curiosity and playing, and I like to think I bring that to how I support people in programmes. I’m also a former actor, so I do like a good story! I tend to use humour, drama, and the occasional side-eye to bring things to life! 

Jesse Creange: Hey! I’m Jesse, I’m 31, French and Paris-based, and father of a cute, reckless, and mischievous 1 year old! I’m an entrepreneur and a nerd *(I know an absurd amount of useless Lord of the Rings and Star Wars facts*).

Sarah Assous: Had you asked me this in January, my answer would have been very different. Today, I can proudly say that I am a new mother learning how to navigate my career and family life. At work, I’m a passionate and enthusiastic professional who loves to take on new challenges while supporting my team and colleagues to grow and reach their goals.

What Inspires You On a Daily Basis?

Alay Shah: The biggest inspiration for me is when people are pushing themselves to be better every single day, professionally and personally. If we as a whole strive to get better every single day, then we can and will change the world.

Janelle Mims: Small intentional moments. I’ve done a training session before, and it was great to see the “a-ha moment”. It’s great for them to challenge people and help them say, “I don’t see this working,” and to be able to have those discussions. I like people taking ownership of their own growth and development, and figuring out what to do when it’s different than what they expected. I also really like food! I’m driven by food and perfectly seasoned dishes, or the right song at the right time, as I’m driven by music as well!

Jesse Creange: My wife, with her extraordinary calm, kindness, intelligence, and my ever-smiling son!

Sarah Assous: Smart and passionate people who aren’t afraid to go after what they want. I love seeing people grow and reach their goals, whether professionally and/or personally.

What Would You Say Your Personal Values Are And Why?

Alay Shah:

Growth: I want to constantly be learning new things and gaining new experiences. These experiences allow me to view the world from new perspectives.

Curiosity: I constantly question everything and want to learn more about why something occurs. I also do not accept “It’s always been done this way” as an answer; I need to know why.

Janelle Mims: Courage, creativity, curiosity, adaptability, honesty, and joy. In terms of why, honestly, I’d call myself a big kid in the sense that I like to approach things with a childlike point of view. Children are excited; they jump into anything. They ask questions as much as possible, they’re honest, and they can find joy in the smallest of things. I think this mindset is extremely important because these values help me find the excitement in any part of the journey.

Jesse Creange: 

Curiosity: I love learning new things, even tiny ones. I can lose hours a week on Wikipedia.

Excellence: I have a natural tendency to always do the maximum when I do something… and often end up over-architecting things. 

Pleasure: I need fun at work. I like conviviality, jokes, food, drinks, passion, and friendly relationships with customers and prospects.

Autonomy: the combination of freedom and ownership in the service of collective effort. I enjoy when people drive their own success. Not to be confused with being a lone wolf!

Sarah Assous: Honesty, trust, embracing change, kindness, and positive attitude. I strongly believe in the law of attraction and that everything happens for a reason. These values have shaped and changed my life many times and have helped me be who I am today.

Why Did You Choose This Career Path?

Alay Shah: I actually sorta ended up in Revenue Operations and Technology. I started off in Financial Management, then moved over to IT supporting the GTM teams, and eventually moved into the Sales Ops team. From there, I stayed on the operational side of the business and never looked back.

Janelle Mims: As clichéd as it sounds, it found me. I am a former actress (many years ago!) and took an office job, because starving artists need to eat, in hospitality – specifically lifestyle concierge. I took it upon myself to show new hires the ropes, make sure they knew our systems and processes. Apparently, I did it well, because our global Head of Learning and Development brought me on her team, and that was that! I think the hospitality background translates really well into L&D as it helps us keep people at the center of everything we do.

Jesse Creange: The three things I love doing the most are:

1. Debating (with a pinch of bad faith and mischief)
2. Playing games (all kinds)
3. Building stuff

I think it naturally led me to entrepreneurship and sales 10 years ago!

Sarah Assous: I began my career in the London Insurance market in product innovation (very different from today, I know…). This experience helped me realise that there was an opportunity to be in a role where I could help shape the product while also having additional impacts within an organisation – I discovered that product marketing could help me do exactly that.

Working in an environment with constantly evolving markets and new innovative technologies excites me. That’s why I chose to predominantly focus my career on the B2B space and specifically businesses where I am able to put myself in both the buyer, user, and consumer’s shoes

I love being able to approach a problem and solution through different lenses, especially when I, as a consumer, can benefit from the outcome! 

What Does It Mean To You To Be In A Position Of Leadership?

Alay Shah: My view on leadership is that I am here to support the team and ensure they are successful. My goal as a leader is to have my team grow and learn skills they can use here at Akeneo and beyond in their professional careers. 

Leadership also means we take full accountability for failures and mistakes. We do not delegate failure, only success.

Janelle Mims: The first word that comes to mind is impact. I am constantly thinking of the impact I’m having and want to have on Akeneo and those within. That includes ensuring I’m leading by example, demonstrating the right values and behaviors, from communication to collaboration and more. Actively celebrating the wins and owning and learning from our mistakes. It’s being crystal clear in my expectations, and holding myself accountable and challenging others to do the same. It’s actively seeking how I can support and improve. Being in a position of leadership requires a lot of reflection to ensure you’re setting others up for success.

Jesse Creange: I am very grateful for the trust the Executive team, the Board, and all our internal customers put in the vision we presented as a team. I am also grateful for the warm welcome and excitement coming from the BDR, the Education, and the Enablement teams. It means everybody aligns on the diagnosis and the solutions we presented; it means it resonates with all. It’s the foundation for success.

Sarah Assous: For me, leadership is about having a clear vision and setting meaningful goals so that every team member understands their purpose and value. 

It’s about creating a space for people to shine in their strengths and skills, contributing not only to the organization’s success, but also to grow in their careers. 

True leadership is about sharing knowledge, sparking curiosity, guiding, and fueling innovation. As a leader, I aim to create a collective passion and push the boundaries to achieve great things together.

What’s The Akeneo Value That Speaks To You The Most?

Alay Shah: Humble Hunger.

Janelle Mims: I know I’m supposed to say Humble Hunger as it directly correlates with Learning and Development, but the answer to this question changes for me often. Currently, it’s Diligent Benevolence. We’ve gone through a lot of change, and I think all the values are important, but at the moment, this is the one that resonates the most.

Jesse Creange: Humble hunger!

Sarah Assous: Picking just one is certainly not easy, as I think they all speak to me in different ways. If I have to pick one, I would say Humble Hunger.

Wrapping Up the PXmas Spirit

The stories shared by our colleagues remind us that innovation is powered by people. Their passion continues to shape the Akeneo experience from the inside out, making our solutions stronger and our culture richer.

As we make our way through the 12 Days of PXmas, we’re grateful for the helpers who make every day at Akeneo brighter. Here’s to the people behind the product and the shared mission that carries us into the new year!

If you’ve ever watched your product data bounce between teams, tools, and channels like it’s running its own obstacle course, you know how exhausting the journey can be. A description gets updated in one system but not another. Images go missing. Attributes get duplicated. By the time everything syncs up, you’re already behind schedule.

That’s exactly the kind of chaos Akeneo’s Autumn Release sets out to solve. This season, we’ve introduced a major wave of AI capabilities designed to create a smooth, intelligent product data flow where information moves cleanly between systems, stays consistent across channels, and adapts automatically to whatever your team needs next.

Instead of wrestling with manual updates or chasing down scattered content, we’ve developed AI functionality that now helps your product data stay organized, enriched, discoverable, and ready for every touchpoint. It’s a smarter, more connected way to work, letting teams focus on creativity and strategy while the product data takes care of itself.

Let’s take a closer look at the AI capabilities now available in Akeneo and how they unlock better performance across every step of the product lifecycle.

1. Intelligent Asset Management with Akeneo DAM

Finding the right product image shouldn’t feel like detective work. But if your teams juggle multiple campaigns, brands, or seasonal refreshes, asset chaos can creep in quickly. Akeneo DAM changes that.

With AI-driven categorization and sorting, Akeneo DAM automatically analyzes your product images and assigns keyword tags based on what’s actually in the asset, not on someone’s interpretation of what “should” be tagged. That means your tags become more consistent, more complete, and far easier to search.

Instead of teams sifting through folders or guessing which filenames match a product, they can instantly pull up the right asset in seconds. The result is more time spent crafting engaging, conversion-ready experiences and less time lost digging for content.

Best of all, Akeneo DAM is fully integrated within Akeneo Product Cloud. Product managers, marketers, and eCommerce teams collaborate in the same environment, uniting product information and product assets in one powerful workflow. When your data and your visuals live together, and when AI keeps everything clean and organized, the creative process becomes smoother for everyone.

Learn more about Akeneo DAM

2. Centralized AI Configuration

With AI becoming an essential part of enrichment, translation, and content creation, teams need confidence and control over how their models behave. That’s where Akeneo’s new centralized AI Configuration hub comes in.

Instead of juggling prompts in multiple places or guessing why an output looks the way it does, teams can now manage all AI settings, including prompts, translation rules, enrichment models, and more, in a single space. Even better, they can preview AI-generated results in real time, experiment with different prompts, compare outcomes, and refine configurations instantly.

This level of transparency builds trust. Teams understand why the AI produces certain results and can tune the system to match their brand voice, product strategy, and customer expectations. As a result, organizations can scale AI confidently across their catalog without losing control or consistency.

Learn more about Akeneo’s Centralized AI Configuration Hub

3. AI Discovery Optimization

Search is changing. Shoppers are increasingly turning to generative AI like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Perplexity to research, compare, and choose products. And while this shift opens exciting new opportunities, it also raises a tough question:

How do you make sure your products appear and rank well within these emerging AI-driven discovery channels?

That’s what PX Insights helps to solve.

With PX Insights, brands can understand how their products perform across both traditional search engines and new AI solutions by helping your team to understand how AI platforms interpret and surface your products versus competitors, which product attributes influence ranking, and where your data may be missing, unclear, or inconsistent.

Even better, PX Insights analyzes customer reviews and feedback to generate structured, conversational content that resonates with both shoppers and AI models. You optimize your content once and benefit twice: improved AI discoverability and stronger SEO performance.

By ingesting visibility data from AI-driven channels alongside familiar platforms like Google Shopping, PX Insights provides a truly holistic view of discoverability. Teams can see which products appear in search, how they rank, and why. And, because PX Insights operates as a feedback loop within Akeneo Product Cloud, you can instantly act on the insights to enrich data, close gaps, and measure improvements continuously. Every enrichment effort becomes more strategic and more impactful.

Learn more about PX Insights

4. Expanded AI-Powered Data Extraction

Great product content often already exists; you just need help unlocking it. Akeneo’s expanded AI Extraction feature does exactly that, automatically generating product attributes and descriptions from media links, regardless of where they’re stored.

Whether your assets live in a DAM, CMS, or standalone folder, AI can now extract rich product information from videos, PDFs, images, and more. That means:

• No more manual data entry from spec sheets
• No more rewatching videos to capture key details
• No more copy/pasting from PDFs

Akeneo’s AI pulls the essential product details directly from the asset and converts them into usable, structured attributes or compelling descriptions.

This frees your teams to focus on creativity, brand storytelling, and customer experience rather than tedious extraction work. Raw content is transformed into product narratives that resonate without slowing down your workflows.

Learn more about Akeneo’s AI-Powered Data Extraction

5. Automated Catalog-to-Channel Mapping with AI

Every channel has its own product data requirements, and manually aligning your internal attributes to each destination can be one of the slowest parts of channel expansion. Akeneo’s AI-powered catalog-to-channel mapping changes that.

Instead of relying on spreadsheets or complex rule sets, AI now intelligently matches your internal data model to the format each channel expects. Whether you’re onboarding a new marketplace, expanding into a new region, or supporting a new partner, AI handles the configuration so your teams don’t have to.

This automation means faster channel launches, fewer errors, and more agility to expand into new markets whenever opportunity strikes. 

Learn more about Akeneo’s AI-powered catalog-to-channel mapping

6. AI Models of Your Choice Integrated into Akeneo

A particularly exciting addition this season is the introduction of the Akeneo MCP Server, a new layer that encourages experimentation and innovation in product data intelligence.

This environment opens the door to early-stage capabilities that explore how AI and large language models (LLMs) can help detect inconsistencies, surface recommendations, or enhance data governance. Through the new “Bring Your Own LLM” playground, users can connect their preferred AI models, whether for compliance, enrichment, analytics, or quality assurance, and see how they interact directly with product information.

This marks an important step toward a future where product data ecosystems can improve themselves. By allowing AI agents to analyze and interact with product data, Akeneo is laying the foundation for systems that help teams uncover insights faster, maintain accuracy effortlessly, and continuously enhance the product experience.

Learn more about Akeneo’s MCP Server

The AI-Powered Product Data Flow

As your product data moves through your organization into campaigns, onto channels, across markets, it shouldn’t feel like you’re constantly steering it back on track. With the Autumn Release, AI steps in as the force guiding that flow, keeping information clean, consistent, and always headed in the right direction.

These capabilities aren’t here to replace your team’s expertise. It’s meant to take on the repetitive work, surface the insights you might have missed, and help every system speak the same language so your teams can spend more time doing the high-impact work only humans can do.

With a smarter, more automated product data flow, your business gets faster launches, richer customer experiences, and a whole lot fewer bottlenecks. And the best part? It all happens naturally, in the background, as your product data simply moves the way it should.

Learn more about Akeneo’s latest functionality released in our Autumn Release, or reach out to a PX expert today to get started.